


Best Laid Plans

by Jemster



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Baby!Fic, Briemund Anniversary, Established Relationship, F/M, No Smut, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 03:10:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10913094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jemster/pseuds/Jemster
Summary: Sometimes what we think is best for us isn't what we truly need after all.





	Best Laid Plans

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Briemund Anniversary. 
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr: jemsters  
> Or, if you'd like, Instagram: jemsters1231

Brienne looked down at the sniffling bundle in her arms. It had been just a few hours ago that this thing had been squeezed out of her body. Thing. She couldn't think of it as human, couldn't think of it as hers. Seven hells, she wasn't supposed to do this at all. She was supposed to die in the service of someone...anyone.

But then she had met him. Shorter than her by a few inches, red-haired and bearded with a laugh that could shake the wicks off of candles and a kiss that could melt even the coldest of nights. It certainly had her. 

A sound came out of the bundle. She looked down, trying to figure out what was happening. She looked up and tried to find Tormund among the hustle and bustle of maids, Freefolk, and other well-wishers. She couldn't find him. How did so many people in this bloody room have red hair? It was like a conclave of gingers. 

"Out! Everyone out!" she boomed. Frantic, she clutched the bundle to her and continued to scream. She needed all of them out and out now. The walls were closing in on her and she needed to be alone. Everyone quickly exited, save for Tormund and the Maester. 

Tormund came over, gently slid in beside her and leaned into his wife. Arms and shoulders touched and Brienne felt whole once more. 

She released her hold on the baby and Tormund moved in to extricate their son from her grip. She moved the baby out of his reach but moved him back to settle in her lap once she saw Tormund drop his hands. 

"Easy, love," Tormund cooed. "He's a tiny thing. He may be the product of the two strongest fighters the world has ever seen, but he's not one. Well, not yet anyway. Give him a couple of years." Brienne saw him look down with pride at their new baby, his first son. Yes, she knew he loved his daughters and she hoped they, in turn, would learn to love their brother. 

Tormund gently stroked the baby's head through the linen. 

She found her voice, "We have to look into fiding a wet nurse for him."

Tromund looked to her, confused. "What's a wet nurse?"

She blushed, once again reminded of the differences between her and her husband's upbringing. After a long pause she continued. "A wet nurse is a servant who nurses their lord's babies. She typically has a baby of her own and will feed both at the same time."

He turned more fully towards her. "Why would you do that? Is there something wrong with your breasts? Do they not have enough milk?" 

"Well, no mine are just fine." Her grin turned wicked, and her voice lowered. "You of all people should know that."

She noticed a faint pink color seep into Tormund's cheeks. He nodded but his expression turned serious once more. "You still didn't answer my question. Why do we have to find this wet nurse and for our own child?" 

She sighed, "Tormund, you don't understand. That's just how it's done in the south."

Tormund stood up, almost knocking the water off the stand beside the bed with his hand. "Well, this isn't the south and I'm telling you we do not have to have to find someone to take care of our own child!" 

She had seen him animated but never this animated. It dawned on her that he was serious. "Tormund, please." She motioned for him to sit down and when he did she tried to soothe his ire by running her fingers through his thick hair just the way he liked it. "We are going to be busy with getting The Last Hearth rebuilt and people living here once more. So many people left when we took over that hardly anyone's around save for your people and some poor bastards that had nowhere else to go. How would we do that and have the added pressure of raising a baby? I never expected to get pregnant so soon. I thought we'd have some time but then the moon tea didn't work and he came along." 

"It's simple. We made the child, we take care of them. You feed them - I sure in the hells can't do that. Besides you, who else would want to suck on my nipple? No one I know. Well, maybe Snow.."

She threw a pillow at his head, missing only slightly as he ducked. 

He continued once he was sure nothing else was being aimed at him. Again. "And we teach him. You teach him how to fight and ride, I'll teach him how to hunt, fish, and woo a woman if that's what he's into. He needs to know his parents. You never really knew yours. Your mother died when you were a child and your father neglected you."

"He did not!" She countered, suddenly defensive. "He sent me to the finest people to educate and train me. Ser Goodwin and Septa..."

"Were not your father," Tormund interjected. "He tossed you to other people when he should have been there himself. He paid more attention to those women he brought home every year than you, his own flesh and blood. Has he come here to see you? To see us? I'm your husband now, Brienne. We are the Lord and Lady of a northern castle yet all he sent was a raven and a note saying, what exactly?" He tried to remember the words she had read to him shortly after the wedding. "Oh, yes, that he acknowledge the marriage and wished you well. I personally think he added the I hope you come visit soon as an afterthought." 

"That's not what he meant, Tormund. I am his heir and this little guy is now mine. He is heir to both this place and Tarth."

A wicked grin crept into his features. "He doesn't have to be heir to both. We could split it between the others." 

She gasped, taken aback by his suggestion. "I've barely borne this child and now you're talking about having more?! You don't waste time, do you?" 

He shook his head, covering her hand with his. "No, not when I see something I want. And I want to have as many children with you as you'll allow." He leaned in and kissed her gently. She kissed him back harder, snaking her hand around his neck and pulling him closer when the tiny human between them started to squirm. They broke apart and Brienne pushed back the cloth to reveal a tiny freckled face framed with a shock of red hair. How a recently born babe had so much hair she'd never know. Both her and Tormund hoped his eyes would stay blue but as he kept them closed most of the time they couldn't tell if they had changed to more of a green. Time would tell. 

"I think the little guy's hungry. So? What will it be? His mother or someone of the staff?"

She gave him a long look and never broke eye contact as she disengaged her hand from his and pulled back her robe. Tormund grabbed onto her hand once more to stop her. She looked up at him and noticed he eyes had gotten darker, more intense. 

She paused. "What? I thought I was going to feed him."

"Oh, you're going to but I didn't think he should be the only one to get a show."

She laughed and slapped his hand away as instinct took over and the babe rooted through the fabric and latched onto her nipple. She sighed as mother and babe began to bond. 

 

_Fin_


End file.
